"Individual commitment to a group effort--that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." --Vince Lombardi
"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." --Michael Jordan
"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." --Andrew Carnegie
"Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." --Helen Keller
"Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability." --Patrick Lencioni
"I invite everyone to choose forgiveness rather than division, teamwork over personal ambition." --Jean-Francois Cope
"None of us is as smart as all of us." --Ken Blanchard
"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." --Henry Ford
"If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." --Henry Ford
"The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." --Phil Jackson
"Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other's fund of collective intelligence." --Mike Schmoker
"It takes two flints to make a fire." --Louisa May Alcott
"Unity is strength. . . when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved." --Mattie Stepanek
"To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless." --Mike Krzyzewski
"The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison." --James Cash Penney
One of the most popular myths about teamwork is that the skills of team members are more important than their energy, interest and drive for the tasks. Another popular myth is that members are not individually responsible for the successes or failures of their teams. The truth is that individuals are the smallest units within their teams and that their personal abilities affect various outcomes in their teams. Teams often arise when employees come together to accomplish a common goal. Teamwork within the workplace not only benefits your workers but also significantly affects in your business.
Work Efficiency
Teamwork enables you to accomplish tasks faster and more efficiently than tackling projects individually. Cooperating together on various tasks reduces workloads for all employees by enabling them to share responsibilities or ideas. Teamwork also reduces the work pressure on every worker, which allows him to be thorough in the completion of the assigned roles. In sharing ideas or responsibilities, every employee should have a role that suits his specialization. You should also consider employees' levels of interest in the project at hand, which positively influences the efficiency or speed of their output in accomplishing the task.
Improved Employee Relations
Teamwork is important in an organization because it provides employees with an opportunity to bond with one another, which improves relations among them. Workers who constitute a team working on a project often feel valued upon the successful completion of such tasks. A situation in which all of them find a chance to contribute towards the tasks improves relations within the team and enhances their respect for each other.
Increased Accountability
Teamwork increases the accountability of every member of the team, especially when working under people who
command a lot of respect within the business. Team members do not want to let each other down and hence do their best
to contribute to the successes of their teams. In contrast to working solo on a project, peer pressure is usually high within
teams such that cases of low morale are less likely to impact individuals.
Learning Opportunities
Cooperating on a project is an opportunity for new workers to learn from more experienced employees. Teams often consist of members who differ from one another in terms of skills or talents. Working together is a great opportunity to acquire skills that an employee never had beforehand. Unlike working alone on a project, teamwork affords people the opportunity to challenge the ideas of each other and come up with a compromise solution that contributes to the successful completion of the task.
Team work within an organization
Team work is one of the greatest assets of an organization as the greatest asset is human capital and the cohesion of this is an extremely productive team. It's impossible to have a successful organization without successful teams in it who work together to bring out success whereby everyone is efficient in a way or another. An efficient and productive team breaks barriers individuals can never break as we all have limitations/weaknesses which are cut to zero with a proper team composition which balances limitations and strengths. The composition of a team would also determine the efficiency and production of the team; an unbalanced team would be inefficient as balancing the team is tantamount to the level of production. A well balanced team with a competent leader would be excellent in all tasks embarked upon which in turn would produce an excellent organization. Team work is as vital as the organization itself as no organization can exist without it and be successful without it. Individuals aren't omnipresent and there's also a limit to our multitasking capabilities which is limited upon result but different people specializing in different areas amalgamating their ideas, tasks and work would be productive even if they fail. A team should also have a system in place and cohesion of individuals would limit errors. Team work is vital to achieving goals as it's impossible for an individual to operate alone, a team is always needed and how well they can coalesce determines the percentage of success in achieving the goals of their creation. In my opinion, team work is as essential as the organization itself. Team work is a tool for increasing working creativity. Teamwork culture should be promoted in the organization prior to the establishment of working teams. Team work culture is a prerequisite for achieving stable key capacities in the competitive market.
Video: Build a Tower, Build a team
Benefits of Teamwork in the Workplace
As employees coordinate their efforts in a mutually supportive manner, a company benefits in many ways, including increased performance in work production. Teamwork builds corporate intelligence, increase efficiency and enhance performance
1. Esprit De Corps
Team members interact on a continuous basis for the duration of a task or project. In the process, employees develop friendships and a sense of unity. As an esprit de corps develops, team members build a sense of fellowship, common interests and commitment to the accomplishment of the team's objectives.
2. Job Satisfaction
Working together, team members pool their complementary skills and experience, which may improve each employee's individual performance. In turn, improved performance may increase job satisfaction, enhancing an employee's self-esteem and the joy he finds in his work. As an individual enjoys his work more, he becomes more motivated to perform well and becomes more effective in his work.
3. Resource Utilization
When teams of people with complementary skills mutually cooperate to accomplish goals, the employees’ complete work faster than otherwise would be possible. Using teams, multiple people can work simultaneously to complete individual tasks, which reduce the time required to complete specific activities and increases the speed with which primary objectives are accomplished.
4. Creative Environment
Establishing a team consisting of individuals with differing experiences and backgrounds increases the creativity of individual team members and the group as a whole. Brainstorming within the team may produce novel ideas and optimal solutions. In addition, the team environment may improve trust and communication between members; this contributes to a more open environment in which creativity is supported and encouraged.
5. Learning Environment
Individual team members serve as educational resources to other employees in a team environment; therefore, questions may be answered more quickly and concepts more rapidly understood. In addition, the group may avoid certain mistakes, which improves the efficiency and reputation of the team. As employees become more knowledgeable, their confidence and attitude improves, as does their job satisfaction. The employees also may come to focus less on the negatives of work and more on work outcomes.
6. Communication
Customers and business partners may find it easier to communicate with a team rather than a number of individuals working in isolation. In a team, all information regarding a work product can be gathered across disciplines and combined so the need for each individual to make multiple presentations to a number of different employees, customers or business partners is avoided. Synthesizing information also facilitates decision-making because redundant or fragmented information is reduced or eliminated.
Articles on Teamwork
Teamwork In The Workplace ... Begins With The Individual The first is to make sure that you understand what every high performance leader knows .... that teamwork begins with the individual.The second is to provide you with a series of articles that will help drive high performance teamwork in the workplace.
Stages of Team Development These four Stages of Team Development help you clearly pinpoint the behaviors you can expect from the team as they progress toward self-reliance, the types of performance you can expect at each of the stages and the types of interactions you can expect between team members and their team leader...
The Secret Sauce of Teamwork Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” For a team to come together, its members must share a common goal. This is often the main value a leader provides: being able to articulate a clear vision and principles for how the team will reach it. Our team has a motto: “Reward Lives in the House of Risk.” It reminds us that, as more teams compete on the competitive barbecue circuit, the level of competition only increases and those who play it safe often find themselves at the bottom of the standings. As entrepreneurs, too, we have to remember that calculated risks must be taken to improve our overall results, but that unproductive risk should be avoided where it can through preparation and planning...
Teamwork as an Essential Component of High-Reliability Organizations Organizations are increasingly becoming dynamic and unstable. This evolution has given rise to greater reliance on teams and increased complexity in terms of team composition, skills required, and degree of risk involved. High-reliability organizations (HROs) are those that exist in such hazardous environments where the consequences of errors are high, but the occurrence of error is extremely low...
John Maxwell: The Miracle of Teamwork The way these two groups of players melded together to reach their goals is inspiring, especially for people who value teamwork as much as I do. Individually, none of them—even the immensely talented Michael Jordan—could have accomplished what they did together. They needed each other to succeed...
References
Knight and Willmot, Introducing Organizational Behaviour and Management, 2nd Edition.
Bob Kelly, Importance of Teamwork in Organizations. Demand Media. Global Post
Billie Nordmeyer, Benefits of Teamwork in the Workplace. Demand Media. Global Post
Google Image, allfamousquote.net and quicksolution.com
Great Quotes on Team work
Extracted from http://www.inc.com/dave-kerpen/15-quotes-to-inspire-great-team-work.html on 23rd November 2014
Importance of Teamwork in Organizations
One of the most popular myths about teamwork is that the skills of team members are more important than their energy, interest and drive for the tasks. Another popular myth is that members are not individually responsible for the successes or failures of their teams. The truth is that individuals are the smallest units within their teams and that their personal abilities affect various outcomes in their teams. Teams often arise when employees come together to accomplish a common goal. Teamwork within the workplace not only benefits your workers but also significantly affects in your business.
Teamwork enables you to accomplish tasks faster and more efficiently than tackling projects individually. Cooperating together on various tasks reduces workloads for all employees by enabling them to share responsibilities or ideas. Teamwork also reduces the work pressure on every worker, which allows him to be thorough in the completion of the assigned roles. In sharing ideas or responsibilities, every employee should have a role that suits his specialization. You should also consider employees' levels of interest in the project at hand, which positively influences the efficiency or speed of their output in accomplishing the task.Work Efficiency
Teamwork is important in an organization because it provides employees with an opportunity to bond with one another, which improves relations among them. Workers who constitute a team working on a project often feel valued upon the successful completion of such tasks. A situation in which all of them find a chance to contribute towards the tasks improves relations within the team and enhances their respect for each other.Improved Employee Relations
Increased Accountability
Teamwork increases the accountability of every member of the team, especially when working under people who
command a lot of respect within the business. Team members do not want to let each other down and hence do their best
to contribute to the successes of their teams. In contrast to working solo on a project, peer pressure is usually high within
teams such that cases of low morale are less likely to impact individuals.
Cooperating on a project is an opportunity for new workers to learn from more experienced employees. Teams often consist of members who differ from one another in terms of skills or talents. Working together is a great opportunity to acquire skills that an employee never had beforehand. Unlike working alone on a project, teamwork affords people the opportunity to challenge the ideas of each other and come up with a compromise solution that contributes to the successful completion of the task.Learning Opportunities
Team work within an organization
Team work is one of the greatest assets of an organization as the greatest asset is human capital and the cohesion of this is an extremely productive team. It's impossible to have a successful organization without successful teams in it who work together to bring out success whereby everyone is efficient in a way or another. An efficient and productive team breaks barriers individuals can never break as we all have limitations/weaknesses which are cut to zero with a proper team composition which balances limitations and strengths. The composition of a team would also determine the efficiency and production of the team; an unbalanced team would be inefficient as balancing the team is tantamount to the level of production.
A well balanced team with a competent leader would be excellent in all tasks embarked upon which in turn would produce an excellent organization. Team work is as vital as the organization itself as no organization can exist without it and be successful without it. Individuals aren't omnipresent and there's also a limit to our multitasking capabilities which is limited upon result but different people specializing in different areas amalgamating their ideas, tasks and work would be productive even if they fail.
A team should also have a system in place and cohesion of individuals would limit errors. Team work is vital to achieving goals as it's impossible for an individual to operate alone, a team is always needed and how well they can coalesce determines the percentage of success in achieving the goals of their creation. In my opinion, team work is as essential as the organization itself. Team work is a tool for increasing working creativity. Teamwork culture should be promoted in the organization prior to the establishment of working teams. Team work culture is a prerequisite for achieving stable key capacities in the competitive market.
Video: Build a Tower, Build a team
Benefits of Teamwork in the Workplace
As employees coordinate their efforts in a mutually supportive manner, a company benefits in many ways, including increased performance in work production. Teamwork builds corporate intelligence, increase efficiency and enhance performance
1. Esprit De Corps
Team members interact on a continuous basis for the duration of a task or project. In the process, employees develop friendships and a sense of unity. As an esprit de corps develops, team members build a sense of fellowship, common interests and commitment to the accomplishment of the team's objectives.2. Job Satisfaction
Working together, team members pool their complementary skills and experience, which may improve each employee's individual performance. In turn, improved performance may increase job satisfaction, enhancing an employee's self-esteem and the joy he finds in his work. As an individual enjoys his work more, he becomes more motivated to perform well and becomes more effective in his work.3. Resource Utilization
When teams of people with complementary skills mutually cooperate to accomplish goals, the employees’ complete work faster than otherwise would be possible. Using teams, multiple people can work simultaneously to complete individual tasks, which reduce the time required to complete specific activities and increases the speed with which primary objectives are accomplished.4. Creative Environment
Establishing a team consisting of individuals with differing experiences and backgrounds increases the creativity of individual team members and the group as a whole. Brainstorming within the team may produce novel ideas and optimal solutions. In addition, the team environment may improve trust and communication between members; this contributes to a more open environment in which creativity is supported and encouraged.5. Learning Environment
Individual team members serve as educational resources to other employees in a team environment; therefore, questions may be answered more quickly and concepts more rapidly understood. In addition, the group may avoid certain mistakes, which improves the efficiency and reputation of the team. As employees become more knowledgeable, their confidence and attitude improves, as does their job satisfaction. The employees also may come to focus less on the negatives of work and more on work outcomes.6. Communication
Customers and business partners may find it easier to communicate with a team rather than a number of individuals working in isolation. In a team, all information regarding a work product can be gathered across disciplines and combined so the need for each individual to make multiple presentations to a number of different employees, customers or business partners is avoided. Synthesizing information also facilitates decision-making because redundant or fragmented information is reduced or eliminated.Articles on Teamwork
Teamwork In The Workplace ... Begins With The Individual
The first is to make sure that you understand what every high performance leader knows .... that teamwork begins with the individual.The second is to provide you with a series of articles that will help drive high performance teamwork in the workplace.
Stages of Team Development
These four Stages of Team Development help you clearly pinpoint the behaviors you can expect from the team as they progress toward self-reliance, the types of performance you can expect at each of the stages and the types of interactions you can expect between team members and their team leader...
The Secret Sauce of Teamwork
Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” For a team to come together, its members must share a common goal. This is often the main value a leader provides: being able to articulate a clear vision and principles for how the team will reach it. Our team has a motto: “Reward Lives in the House of Risk.” It reminds us that, as more teams compete on the competitive barbecue circuit, the level of competition only increases and those who play it safe often find themselves at the bottom of the standings. As entrepreneurs, too, we have to remember that calculated risks must be taken to improve our overall results, but that unproductive risk should be avoided where it can through preparation and planning...
Teamwork as an Essential Component of High-Reliability Organizations
Organizations are increasingly becoming dynamic and unstable. This evolution has given rise to greater reliance on teams and increased complexity in terms of team composition, skills required, and degree of risk involved. High-reliability organizations (HROs) are those that exist in such hazardous environments where the consequences of errors are high, but the occurrence of error is extremely low...
John Maxwell: The Miracle of Teamwork
The way these two groups of players melded together to reach their goals is inspiring, especially for people who value teamwork as much as I do. Individually, none of them—even the immensely talented Michael Jordan—could have accomplished what they did together. They needed each other to succeed...
References
Knight and Willmot, Introducing Organizational Behaviour and Management, 2nd Edition.
Bob Kelly, Importance of Teamwork in Organizations. Demand Media. Global Post
Billie Nordmeyer, Benefits of Teamwork in the Workplace. Demand Media. Global Post